


natural progression

by prettyboyrollins



Series: Reunion [2]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Emotions, First Kiss, Forgiveness, Getting Back Together, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 19:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13083603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyboyrollins/pseuds/prettyboyrollins
Summary: Words are hard. Feelings are harder. But sometimes, it's all worth it. [Dean and Seth talk about where they're headed, and acknowledge where they've been.]





	natural progression

**Author's Note:**

> okay, i honestly planned on finishing this piece back in september but here we are. i finally managed to write myself out of the corner i wrote myself into. thank god.
> 
> dedicated to [pendules](http://archiveofourown.org/users/pendules/pseuds/pendules) who's honestly the only reason i'm able to write ambrollins half the time.

It was the night before a pay-per-view, and for once, Seth and Dean had no nervous energy. The six weeks since winning the title had been easy, a shift back into place that came as natural as getting back on a bike after years. Their confidence was high but not unwarranted – as a team, they’d been practically unstoppable, and they knew they’d handle any challenge thrown at them.

They’d grabbed some fast food on the way to the hotel – Dean had insisted on In-N-Out, and Seth was more than happy to indulge him – and once they’d checked in, they crashed on a bed and turned on Law and Order SVU.

There hadn’t been a question about sleeping arrangements since that night weeks ago – when Dean let it slip that it was the best sleep he’d gotten in years, he’d been horrified he fucked up, but that night Seth had joined him in his bed and admitted that he felt the exact same way. They’d shared a bed every night after that, and it only served to make them better both in and out of the ring.

Dean was halfway through his second burger – animal style, just how he loved it – when Seth hooked one of his legs over one of Dean’s.

And man, _that_ was new.

The simple, insignificant shift in position changed everything. Dean was hyperaware of every point of contact between them. It took extra effort to finish his burger and focus on the murder case on the TV, and even then he only caught every other line. With such a small movement, Seth had managed to occupy all of Dean’s attention, and he hadn’t even said a word.

Without a burger to eat, though, Dean’s hands didn’t know what to do – so he fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. He kept twisting it, folding and unfolding it, eyes on the TV but staring straight through it – that is, until Seth leaned against his side so much that his only option to stay comfortable was to put his arm around him.

Everything felt so much more intimate like this, with the lights on and no plans to sleep anytime soon. It was disorienting but somehow familiar and easy at the same time.

Everything between them was easy, though. Which is what led Seth to say “I love you” in a soft murmur against Dean’s cheek, his beard scratching against Dean’s with each word.

Dean didn’t want to let himself believe it – it’d been _years_ since he heard Seth say anything like that. He settled for humming inquisitively, wordlessly asking Seth to repeat himself.

Seth swallowed hard beside him. “I love you,” he said, voice a little louder and more sure. “I just thought I should… I mean, I figured since –”

“You don’t gotta explain,” Dean cut him off. “I get it. Didn’t expect it, but… yeah. Me too.” The L word wouldn’t work its way up and out – not when he meant it in such a different way than Seth did.

“No, I…” Seth laughed a little. It wasn’t his genuine laugh from when Dean was being ridiculous and charming, and it wasn’t his soulless, cruel cackle that used to haunt Dean’s nightmares years ago. It was a little self-deprecating, and that threw Dean off. Before he could ask, though, Seth was speaking again; the sureness in his voice was gone.

“God, I feel like a fuckin’ high schooler again. I love you, dude, and you know that, I hope. I was shitty at showin’ it in the past, and I’m workin’ on being better about that. We’re brothers again. I need you to know I don’t wanna fuck that up at all. You get that, right?”

All Dean could do was nod. Seth untangled himself and sat up to look at him head on, eyes boring into Dean’s. Dean couldn’t look away even if he wanted to.

“We got a connection I haven’t been able to find with anyone else,” he started. It was obvious he’d been thinking about this for a while; Dean made a mental note to ask him just how long later, because he wasn’t about to interrupt him now.

Seth ran a hand over his hair before he continued. “And trust me, I tried. I tried real fuckin’ hard after I broke up the Shield. And I mean I tried _everything,_ man. Every relationship was missing something and it just… fell apart. And I couldn’t figure out what it was or why for so long. Now I get it, though. Well, not ‘get’ it because I still don’t know what _exactly_ it is that you got that they don’t, but I understand why they all failed now.”

Dean was holding his breath. Seth took a deep one and licked his lips.

“They weren’t you.”

It was everything Dean had wanted to hear for years, but instead of being thrilled, he just felt apprehensive. This could be a dream, or a fluke, or an elaborate ploy by the Authority to break him once and for all-

Seth placed a hand on his cheek, gentle and kind. “Hey. You’re overthinking.” Somehow, like always, Seth knew what he was thinking just by looking at him – it was annoying. He couldn’t hide a damn thing. “Stay with me, Dean, c’mon.”

Dean felt Seth’s hand tremble a bit, and he realized they were both just as nervous as each other. That made everything a lot better.

“Listen, Dean. I think I like you.” He laughed. “See? High school shit. I just know I wanna be around you all the time and this all feels like a dream still. But I don’t wanna wake up. So. That’s… that’s that.”

There were a few tense moments of silence while Dean processed all the new information just thrown at him, and then his hand covered Seth’s on his cheek. When Seth smiled at him, the grin that Dean was learning was just for him, he took that as an okay to lean in and finally, finally, _finally_ kiss him.

He’d been daydreaming about this moment since 2011, since he first met Seth in FCW. He’d always just written it off as a side effect of their crazy chemistry, especially during feuds. Then he got to know Seth, and it didn’t go away, and he wrote it off as Seth being pretty.

Here, kissing Seth slowly in a hotel in Los Angeles, he knew it was _so_ much more than that. (And truthfully, he’d always fucking known, he’d just been lying to himself. He was real good at that, apparently.)

Seth was melting into the kiss, melting into him, and Dean distantly wondered if this was heaven. He knew it wasn’t a dream – he always woke up before the kiss, and Seth was very much crawling into his lap to get a better angle, lips moving against his desperately.

Dean was reluctant to pull away, and Seth’s whine told him he didn’t want him to, either.

“So this is…”

“This is.”

He looked at Seth expectantly for a few quiet moments, waiting for a more definitive answer than that. “What is it?” Dean pressed. After their history, he wanted things to be crystal clear on both sides. He needed to be sure.

“This is us. This is where we were always gonna end up. This is the natural progression of our relationship.”

Dean kissed Seth again, heady with the knowledge it was _allowed_ now, and desperate for Seth to “get to the fucking point, man,” which he growled against his lips. Seth laughed and kissed him harder, and Dean swallowed his laugh greedily.

“This is Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, partners,” he answered when they finally parted.

“Partners who kiss.”

“Hopefully partners who do _more_ than just kiss.” Seth smirked. Dean had never been happier to know he was well and truly fucked.

“Sounds pretty serious to me,” Dean said, testing the waters. He hadn’t been in this position in years.

“Boyfriends works too,” Seth added, reading Dean’s mind again, and fuck if that didn’t thrill him. He grinned.

“I like the sound of that. Didn’t think I would,” he admitted.

“I didn’t think you would, either, but I’m glad you do. Boyfriends, then. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, boyfriends and partners.”

Seth’s smile had Dean weak, and he tangled a hand in Seth’s hair; the bun at the nape of his neck came undone and Dean used the leverage to pull him in for another kiss. This one he put a little more passion into – he let the years of longing out, and the way that Seth responded had him thinking that maybe they weren’t years of unrequited pining after all.

They didn’t separate for a while, taking breaths between kisses but never putting more than an inch between them. They had a lot of time to make up for, Dean figured. He _certainly_ wasn’t complaining.

An hour later – and he only knew that because they were into a completely new episode of SVU – they stopped making out like teenagers and settled back into bed, fingers laced together, Seth’s head on Dean’s chest.

Quiet peace settled over them again, which was very quickly becoming the norm. _Kinda funny for two guys who can’t stop runnin’ their mouths,_ Dean thought with a smile, turning to kiss Seth’s hair.

Seth hummed, looking up at him with the barest hint of a smile, the _what was that for_ written all over his face, and _fuck,_ that made Dean melt a little more. “Just wanted to. ‘M happy.”

“Me too. Been wantin’ this since… well, been wantin’ you in my bed since we met. Been wantin’ _more_ since you won the US title.”

Dean almost choked on his own spit. “You’re fuckin’ kiddin’ me.”

“No, man, I’ve always kinda had a thing for you. Tried to lie to myself about it for a while,” he admitted, and Dean almost laughed at how similar they were despite all of the times they insisted they weren’t anything alike. “I’m not anymore. And I’ll be the first to say I don’t deserve this, before anyone else sits you down and tells you that.”

“Cut that shit out – I told you. I _deserve_ to be happy. Where I find my happiness ain’t anyone’s business but mine unless it’s hurtin’ people. And this? This ain’t hurtin’ anyone. Hell, the only person that can get hurt here’s me.”

Seth bit his lip. Dean didn’t mean to hurt him, but when he opened his mouth to apologize, Seth shook his head. “No, ‘s fine. I deserve that. Keeps me… I need to keep reminding myself that I did that, ‘cause even though you’ve forgiven me, the… the hurt isn’t fixed. And I haven’t forgiven myself for it, either.”

“Well that’s stupid. I told you I forgive you, you can forgive yourself.”

“I’m workin’ on it,” Seth said quietly. “It’s just… it’s not that simple, y’know? I never really saw the scope of what I did to you until recently and… it’s heavy shit.”

“Hey, I know how hard it can be. Trust me. But…” Dean shrugged, trying to lighten the weight of what he was about to say. “I’ll keep remindin’ you you can forgive yourself. We’ll get through it together.”

Seth’s smile looked like the sun, and Dean tried to commit it to memory, just so he’d never forget how bright Seth could be in moments like these. “I really like the sound of that.”

He settled back against Dean’s chest again, hand resting on his abs, and Dean kissed his hair one more time. “Me too, Rollins. Me too.”


End file.
